Transformation Mugging, CA

h2. *Transformation Mugging* *“Since our kids had witnessed the shock of having something taken so forcefully, we asked God to show them His power in response.”* Late one night, I was rushing through a bookstore with my kids. In the blink of an eye, a boy snatched my purse and ran. Not wanting to leave my kids unprotected, I had no choice but to watch my possessions disappear into the rainy darkness. Early the next morning my husband and I went to the bank to change our accounts. We were met by a friendly teller named Natalie. As she worked with us she noticed our street name and told us how her family used to live on our street but at one point had to move and now couldn't afford to return. She went on to tell us that she now faced an hour-long commute to get to work in the morning. Seeing an opportunity, we offered to pray with her for God to provide. Her immediate response surprised us, “Pray for me to get pregnant!” She persisted in explaining that she and her husband had been trying to have children for years unsuccessfully and it was consuming them emotionally. “If God can give me something, this is it,” she affirmed. Her childlike faith was irresistible and with a sense of great privilege we prayed with her right there in the middle of that crowded city bank. Then, since our kids had witnessed the shock of having something taken so forcefully, we asked God to show them His power in response. Within 10 days of the incident we got a call from the boy's parents who had discovered my purse in his room. They wanted to make things right and asked to meet us in a public place to return everything. When we met, they shared their concerns for their son. So under his parent's authority we were able to pray together for God to intervene in his life. But the story doesn't end there. We continued to pray for Natalie whenever we passed by the bank, and a few months after the purse snatching incident we needed to go into the branch for some service. As we entered the bank, a woman shot across the busy lobby. It was Natalie with the news that she was three months pregnant and that God had done it! We learned that transformation happens in short, spontaneous steps of obedience. It is just like God to want to take something negative and random like a theft and use it to touch the lives of people like Natalie and her husband to transform their marriage into a family. Then to be able to connect with the young thief's parents and speak life and transformation into this boy and his family at their request! Wow! Did our kids see the power of God in extraordinary action? They sure did! So we have some simple encouragement for you. When you hit a patch of darkness along the way, turn the light on. Look up and look outward. If the devil is up to something, God is up to something greater. _“Light shall shine out of darkness.”_ - God (2 Corinthians 4:6) _“The Lord turns my darkness into light.”_ - David (2 Samuel 22:29b) Marilyn